Nutri-Data

. . . Try a Calorie-Balancing Act With Turkey-Based Menus : A Variety of Ideas for the Meat-Loving Dieter

Those who need to count calories to fit into their summer clothes don't have to give up good eating entirely. It's more a matter of adapting habits, and favorite recipes, to decrease the amount of fat in the diet. While sugary foods add empty calories, it is fat that contains the most calories per gram, nine as compared to four in a gram of carbohydrate (including sugar) or protein.

Of course this means cooking with less oil, bread with less butter, coffee with less cream, salad with less dressing. Or, none at all. It means cutting down on foods that contain high values of hidden fat, such as nuts, many cheeses and meats. For meat lovers, one answer is to trim away or render out as much fat as possible. Or, substitute skinless poultry and fish items in place of higher-fat cuts of beef, pork or lamb.

Since turkey meat is appearing in what seems to be an ever-expanding variety of light and dark meat cuts, our ideas here for lowered-calorie main dishes make use of these low-fat protein sources. Ground turkey, boneless turkey breast meat, turkey cutlets and whole turkey thighs are combined with a variety of other nutritious ingredients and seasonings that blend compatibly with the flavor and nutrient content of turkey.

Oriental Turkey Salad features ground turkey browned in a small amount of oil, then flavored with soy sauce, vinegar, Sherry, bouillon and cayenne pepper and served over lettuce with water chestnuts, carrots, mushrooms, chow mein noodles, green onions and tomatoes. This attractive salad offers a meal in itself, needing only a source of calcium such as a glass of nonfat milk, to be nearly complete nutritionally.

Ground turkey is also used in the Crustless Turkey Pizza and Broiled Deviled Turkey Pitas, both with less than 300 calories and needing only a calcium-rich food such as a milk product and a source of thiamine, such as peas, to balance out a relatively low-calorie meal.

The same balancing act can be performed on Turkey Creole With Mushrooms, a saucy dish made with turkey cutlets, that contributes only 216 calories to the meal.